July 15
Birthdays: Clement Clarke Moore (1779), Thomas Bullfinch (1796), Walter D. Edmonds (1903), Hammond Innes (1913), Iris Murdoch (1919), Jacques Derrida (1930), Clive Cussler (1931), Lydia Davis (1947), Richard Russo (1949), Jeff Jarvis (1954), Marcia Jones (1958),
Clement Moore is most well known for “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (‘Twas the Night before Christmas)
Thomas Bullfinch is best known for “Bullfinch’s Mythology”
Walter Edmonds is best known for “Drums Along the Mohawk”
Richard Russo won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Empire Falls”
Quote: “When power is up for grabs,” Pitt said, “the first casualty is often liberty.” ― Clive Cussler, Havana Storm
“Study authors who write in your genre and who are successful; their writing style, structure, characterization, and plotting. It’s all there. You don’t need to go four years to school for a degree in writing. Ernest Hemingway studied and used the style of Tolstoy. Thomas Wolfe delved into James Joyce. I used Alistair MacLean when I started out, eventually moving into my own writing style which is now copied by other authors.” – Clive Cussler
Tip: What is your main character’s goal? What does s/he want to accomplish? Who stands in the way of this goal? This is the conflict for your plot.
Jumpstart: Your character is with a friend in a store. The friend steals something and gets away while your hero gets caught. Does he give up his friend? Why or why not?
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July 16
Birthdays: Kathleen Norris (1880), Arthur Bowie Chrisman (1889), James Still (1906), Eve Titus (1922), Anita Brookner (1928), Robert Sheckley (1928), Sheri Tepper (1929), Reinaldo Arenas (1943), Frances Spalding (1950), Richard Egielski (1952), Susan Wheeler (1955), Tony Kushner (1956), Andrew Smith (1959),
Arthur Chrisman won the 1926 Newbery Award for “Shen of the Sea”—a short story collection.
Anita Brookner won the Booker Prize for her 1984 novel “Hotel du Lac”
Richard Egielski won the 1987 Caldecott Medal for illustrating “Hey, Al” by Arthur Yorinks
Quote: “Problems of human behavior still continue to baffle us, but at least in the Library we have them properly filed.”― Anita Brookner
“I actually do start my stories with a particular quirky idea (like a dead horse falling out of the sky, or how two teens might trigger the end of the world in a recession-wracked Midwestern town) and then build a small universe around that idea.” – Andrew Smith
Tip: Use a camera or your phone to take pictures of everything—places, people, things—use these pictures for ideas in your writing.
Jumpstart: Finish this: I ran into the emergency room… (use: bling, fan, teddy bear). Are you the doctor/nurse? Or the patient? Or a visitor?
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July 17
Birthdays: Shmuel Agnon (1888), Erle Stanley Gardner (1889), Christiane Rochefort (1917), Phyllis Diller (1917), Robert V. Remini (1921), Olive Burns (1924), Karla Kuskin (1932), LaVyrle Spencer (1943), Chris Crutcher (1946), Mark Bowden (1951), J. Michael Straczynski (1954), Cory Doctorow (1971),
Shmuel Agnon was the co-winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Robert Remini won the 1984 National Book Award for Nonfiction for his biography of Andrew Jackson.
Quote: “We are the people of the book. We love our books. We fill our houses with books. We treasure books we inherit from our parents, and we cherish the idea of passing those books on to our children… If anyone tries to take away our books—some oppressive government, some censor gone off the rails—we would defend them with everything that we have.” – Cory Doctorow
Tip: A synopsis is not supposed to explain the entire book. It is a short piece designed to hook an editor or agent and to show that you know what goes into making a full story. It should contain main characters, conflicts, plot points, and the ending (Yes, the ending!).
Jumpstart: In A Picture of Dorian Gray, the picture ages while the man does not. If offered the chance for immortality, would you take it? Why or why not? What if it meant you would continue to age, but not die?
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July 18
Birthdays: William Makepeace Thackeray (1811), Nathalie Sarraute (1900), Jessamyn West (1902), Elizabeth Jennings (1926), Margaret Laurence (1926), Hunter S. Thompson (1937), Joseph J. Ellis (1943), Steven Hahn (1951), Felicia Bond (1954), Elizabeth Gilbert (1969),
Joseph Ellis won a Pulitzer Prize for History for his works.
Steven Hahn won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for History for “A Nation Under Our Feet”.
Quote: “Life is a mirror: if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.” ― William Makepeace Thackeray
“[quoting someone else] the American constitution is a document designed by geniuses to be eventually interpreted by idiots” ― Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
“Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.” – Jessamyn West
“Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.” ― Jessamyn West
Tip: Enjoy the ride. You should enjoy what you do. Yes, writing is hard. But there should also be joy somewhere in there. If you worry about deadlines, plot points, sales, reviews, etc., you’ll never get to enjoy what you accomplished. You wrote a book! Congratulations. Celebrate.
Jumpstart: Finish this: I rushed to fudge the numbers before he returned… (use: monk, magazine, imagination)
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July 19
Birthdays: Alice Dunbar Nelson (1875), A.J. Cronin (1896), George McGovern (1922), Joseph Hansen (1923), Stephen Coonts (1946), Thulani Davis (1949), Jayne Anne Phillips (1952), Katherine Applegate (1956), Ava Kito (1962), Garth Nix (1963), Lisa Jewell (1968),
A.J. Cronin’s novel “The Citadel” is credited with laying the groundwork for the National Health System in Britain.
Katherine Applegate won the 2013 Newbery Medal for “The One and Only Ivan”.
Quote: “Just write one chapter at a time and one day you’ll be surprised by your own finished novel.” – Garth Nix
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but only saps today of its strength.”
― A.J. Cronin
Tip: When an agent or editor asks for a three-chapter sample, send the first three chapters. Do not pick and choose non-sequential ones.
Jumpstart: You buy an antique desk. While cleaning it, you find a hidden cache containing an old letter and a map. The name on the letter is a family you recognize, but you are definitely not friends with them. What do you do?
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July 20
Birthdays: Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864), Martin Provensen (1916), Thomas Berger (1924), William H. Goetzmann (1930), Cormac McCarthy (1933), Henry L. Dumas (1934), Alistair MacLeod (1936), Thomas Friedman (1953), Jess Walter (1965)
Eric Karlfeldt won the 1931 Nobel Prize for Poetry.
William Goetzmann won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for History.
Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his 2006 book “The Road”. He also wrote “No Country for Old Men” which was made into a movie.
Thomas Friedman has won the Pulitzer three times for his journalism.
Quotes: “In my world, you don’t get to call yourself “pro-life” and be against common-sense gun control — like banning public access to the kind of semiautomatic assault rifle, designed for warfare, that was used recently in a Colorado theater. You don’t get to call yourself “pro-life” and want to shut down the Environmental Protection Agency, which ensures clean air and clean water, prevents childhood asthma, preserves biodiversity and combats climate change that could disrupt every life on the planet. You don’t get to call yourself “pro-life” and oppose programs like Head Start that provide basic education, health and nutrition for the most disadvantaged children…The term “pro-life” should be a shorthand for respect for the sanctity of life. But I will not let that label apply to people for whom sanctity for life begins at conception and ends at birth. What about the rest of life? Respect for the sanctity of life, if you believe that it begins at conception, cannot end at birth.” ― Thomas L. Friedman
“When widely followed public figures feel free to say anything, without any fact-checking, it becomes impossible for a democracy to think intelligently about big issues.” ― Thomas L. Friedman
“The indulgent 800-page books that were written a hundred years ago are just not going to be written anymore and people need to get used to that. If you think you’re going to write something like The Brothers Karamazov or Moby Dick, go ahead. Nobody will read it. I don’t care how good it is, or how smart the readers are. Their intentions, their brains are different.” – Cormac McCarthy
Tip: A query letter has to sell your book to an editor or agent in just a couple short paragraphs. Be succinct but include all pertinent information including any publishing experience you have, a short blurb of the book giving the main characters, the conflict, the ending, and any marketing ideas you have.
Jumpstart: On July 20, 1985, Mel Fisher’s crew found the sunken Atocha off the Florida coast. The wreck was loaded with silver, gold, and emeralds. Pretend you’re with them as they bring up the bounty. How do you feel? What do you do with your share of the loot? Or… for a twist, pretend you’re back in time, on the ship. What happened?
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July 21
Birthdays: Ernest Hemingway (1899), Hart Crane (1899), Marshall McLuhan (1911), James Cooke Brown (1921), John Gardner (1933), Tess Gallagher (1943), Wendy Cope (1945), Michael Connelly (1956), Sarah Waters (1966), Christopher Barzak (1975)
Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Pirze for Fiction and the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Christopher Barzak’s novel “The Love We Share Without Knowing” was a 2009 Nebula nominee.
John Gardner is known for his retelling of Beowulf from the monster’s point of view—Grendel.
Quote: “Everybody counts, or nobody counts.” ― Michael Connelly
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” Ernest Hemingway
Tip: When setting up your author website, don’t include personal photos of your family unless you’re comfortable with everyone seeing them. Pets and scenery are okay. Just remember: this is your professional site, not a “friends” one.
Jumpstart: More than half the population has been turned into were-animals, but you are immune to the virus. What do you do during a full moon?
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